Poor Airport Signal

I have a macbook pro with Mac OS 10.4.11, and I have noticed extremely low airport signals on my laptop. I thought maybe that it was always the routers I was using, because my laptop is in perfect condition, and i had not changed anything on it. But I know that it is my Laptop because I have a router in the room next to me, and the signal strength bars remain at 2-3, when they should be full. Also, I am a university student, and in my classrooms I can see other people on their Mac AND windows laptops, and they are all browsing the web easily, while my laptop wont even pick up a signal, and if it does it will be for 2-3 seconds.
The range is supposed to be 150 feet for my airport, and i am no more than 15 feet away from my router with a 3/4 full signal strength. pitiful.
can anyone help? I know others have been having the same problem as me. Will Apple do anything about this if my warranty is expired?

Hi eraserface, and a warm welcome to the forums!
First thing to do is check for a loose or frayed Antenn, or loose card.
There are some USB options that'd be cheaper than a repair though...
http://www.afterthemac.com/product.php?id=Mac%20USB%20Wireless%20G54SL
http://eshop.macsales.com/Item_XLR8YourMac.cfm?ID=8862&Item=ASUWL167G

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Macbook - Constant Poor Airport Signal

Hi guys,
I've had my macbook for about 5 years now, and in the last 3-4 months i've been having some annoying issues with my airport connectivity, i've finally decided to try and sort this out! The problem is that my macbook has become terrible at picking up airport signal... whereas other computers, ipads, xbox 360 and such can pick up the signal absolutely fine, I have to move very close to the hub to get any signal at all. Now for example I am sitting about 3-4 meters away from the hub and I am getting 1-2 bars! ***!!
Its not anything to do with the network as I have tried in several different locations and with the same results... no signal unless I have literally right next the the airport sender box thingy (hub). Could it be something to do with the software? Or perhaps the airport card is playing up? If so can I get a new card?
Any help would be greatly appreciated....
I guess a system spec would also be helpful so I have:
Processor: 2GHz Intel Core Duo
Memory: 2 GB 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM
Operating System: 10.4.11
Airport Card Info:
Card type: Airport Extreme (0x168C, 0x86)
Wireless Card Locale: Worldwide
Wireless Card Firmware Version: 1.4.4

Hi Dillweed
Here are some options that might help:
- Restarting the router
- Creating a new location (see below)
At 5 years old, it's possible your AirPort card is on its way out. If you can't afford to change it then you could try:
- Connecting with an Ethernet cable (always gives the best connections and faster speeds!)
- Buying a USB wireless dongle.
Bob
PS: Creating a new "Location":
System Preferences > Network
Select the AirPort from the left hand side
Click on the Locations combo box and select Edit Locations...
Click on + to add a new location, call it "Home" (or anything else you prefer)
Click on Advanced
Select the AirPort tab and enter your network name
Select TCP/IP tab.
Configure IPv4 Using DHCP
Now click on Renew DHCP Lease. After a few seconds you should get an IP address (probably 192.168.x.x)
Click on Proxies tab.
Select Auto Proxy Discovery and Use Passive FTP
Click on OK and Apply, etc.

Poor Airport signal strengh

A friend of mine has a 1.6 GHz G5 iMac which has a very poor signal strengh even though his iMac is right next to his wireless router (Netgear). His daughter uses a PC laptop and gets very good signal anywhere in the same house.
A few weeks ago my friend brings his iMac to my house. I have a Apple network with five Mac's and my friends iMac only just picks up my network even though it is right next to an Airport Express.
All my Mac's are Airport which get max signal strengh with even my iBook getting a great signal outside (weather permitting).
We checked the aerial connection to his Airport Card which seems fine and my friend says that his signal strengh has always been poor since he fitted his Airport card. His Card seems to work O.K. but sometimes struggles to connect.
My friend is running 10.4.3. as i was until i updated.
Would removing and refitting Airport card help.
Anyone with any ideas.
Neil.

Neil, ABSOLUTLY, There have been several reports of Airport Extreme cards coming from the factory not seated properly. It appears that just pusing them in is not enough, they must be two thumbed very hard in order for them to seat properly. The problem you describe fits this to a tee.
Don

Black MacBook poor Airport signal

I have an original Black MacBook. I have a home network with an AEBS and a G5, iBook and my Black MacBook all using the network. I also have a Airport Express to stream my tunes to my stereo. OS 10.5.4
Sometime ago my Black MacBook started to drop the signal unless I was right near the the base station. I tried lots of different things to fix it but nothing seemed to work. Sometimes I get full bars and sometimes it just gets worse until it drops the connection. When the connection drops moving it closer to the base station will restore it. The G5 and the iBook are both fine from anywhere in my house.
I called a place to order an airport card and the tech said 'if the card works close then it is ok and prolly the antenna.' I opened up the Black Macbook and checked both antenna wires for tight connection and I also removed and re-seated the airport card. Not a hard task other that lots of screws to remove.
This did not work. Can anyone suggest something else? Is it possible that the card is wanky or is the tech correct that the card either works or doesn't work. I looked around and I think you have to get the whole display in order to change out the antenna.
Now I am at my wit's end.
Thanks in advance.

I managed to get an Airport card from iFixit in the states. 80 bucks and 30 shipping but it was worth it. I found some disassembly instructions on the net and replaced it in about 15 minutes.
Works like a charm so far.

Airport Signal stays low on imac g5 isight,even with new card.

I am a fairly new user in the mac world & until now have had no problems.
However the problem I have is a poor Airport signal mainly two bar droping to one,occassionally the signal gets stronger,this has only just started during the last couple of months.I really noticed the problem when downloading podcasts,as it began to download,then froze & ultimately lead to the internet connection timing out.I contacted the local store who have always helped me before they took the imac in,tried everything finaly putting in a new card,this worked fine in their shop but again didn't at home.My son has a imac g3 next to mine also on the wireless network & his signal is full strength.My machine is back at the shop where they are now going to try a new antenna.As you can see from my post I am not very technical but has anyone had any similar problems & found any different answers.

I did not see resetting PRAM mentioned yet, so if not done already, do that
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1379
plus this procedure to reset SMU (power management)
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1767
Be sure to follow it precisely. When you reconnect the power cord, if you are using a crowded or old power strip, connect it directly to a wall outlet for this test. Power it up with nothing connected except power cord and once it starts up, connect only your keyboard/mouse (no other USB/FireWire peripherals). Try using it that way to see if the problem still recurs.
The only other suggestion I have is, if you have a external FireWire drive that you can erase (or create a small partition on), install a fresh Leopard installation on it. Start up from it and see if this problem still recurs.
Alternately, back up your data, erase (re-partition and reformat) the interal drive, and reinstall Leopard on the internal drive, then give it a try. If you clone (using Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper) to an external FireWire drive as your backup, you can still boot from your current installation (on the external drive). If the fresh installation test does NOT work, you can clone your clone back to the internal drive. If it does work with a fresh installation, you can keep using it and transfer just your user data back from the clone.

Poor Airport Reception in MBP

I just bought the 15" 2.16 GHZ MacBook Pro 2 days ago and have notcied the airport reception is flaky. When I am 2 rooms away from my router, I get 4/5 bars and then when I go downstairs, it fluctualtes from 1 bar to 4 bars - very inconsistent.
This never used to happen with my titanium nor does this happen with my Dad's iBook or Sony Vaio.
Is anyone else experiencing this issue? Should I take it back to the store?
Thanks.
Macbook Pro 15" 2.16 Mac OS X (10.4.6)

I have genuine Airport Signal issues with my MacBook Pro, when sitting with the laptop IN CONTACT WITH the airport base station I can't get more than 75% signal, with it 2 feet away I'm at 50%, much more than 5 feet and I'm down to 20% and dropping signal regularly. Through walls? Not a chance.
Obviously, this is not normal behavior for a MacBook Pro, so I will be taking it in to the apple store - I just know that they are gonna ship it back to apple, and I don't want to be without my machine for a week, so I haven't quite got around to it yet.
I have tried multiple apple-branded airports, including the extreme and express I both own and severals others, as well as multiple 3rd party base stations. Signals and connection stability have been unusably poor in all cases.
I have ran all the latest software updates and firmware patches, and have wiped the hard drive and re-installed the entire system from scratch. No change.
I haven't found many other people complaining of similar problems, so I suspect I'm just unlucky. On the other hand, perhaps my antenna isn't plugged in or something simple. Even if that was the case, I doubt that the apple store itself would fix it so I gear up for shipment back to apple.
Sigh.
MacBook Pro 2.0ghz Mac OS X (10.4.6) 2GB RAM, 100GB HD

Poor internet signal

I often get a poor internet signal for no reason. I have a D-Link (DSL-G604T) router that is connected via an ethernet cable to my iMac. This works perfectly, but it is also connected to my husbands computer via airport and this doesn't always work properly. He is always able to connect to the network, but the signal strength is very inconsistent. The machine he uses is a 17" 1Ghz PowerBook and it's not in the same room as the router, it's in the next room and the connecting door is always open.

Hello. I had not had my airport for 7 weeks after getting a new drive installed, and just the other day did it.... If I may (hoping to not anger Don) add one thing: the interference robustness that don advised clicking is the computer's interference robustness- you also want to do it to the base station (admin utility, configure, then the row of boxes, make airport the blue (checked ) box....then under wireless options near bottom of page, click, and a page drops down...it discusses multi-cast rate,and then you click that interference robustness tab, then the power setting (if not secure cut power back- if you are password protected, blast it). Then click OK,then click UPDATE at bottom.)
(this last one is when the base station gets the instructions you gave it, it will restart,takes two minutes perhaps).
Last night, I wandered my house with my unit, first time since august.... and WOW did my signal power drop when my air conditioner kicked in.... not for long, then it came back to about half while it ran the rest of the cycle...
SO, any radio interference can have an effect: sun spot cycles, hair dryers, microwaves, all the stuff that used to put snow on a TV screen can weaken the signal. Sorry to be a buttinski... Peace C

Imac 24-Why does my airport signal keep changing??

my airport signal keeps changing??
right next to my imac i have my powerbook 17
and it's signal is full...where my IMac signal is not??
signal on my imac is 2 bars from full most of the time!!
is this a IMAC thing or what??

No real help but this is a common problem for c2d machines it seems. They have the new "n" protocol wireless card in which willl be faster and further than the g with the new apple extreme base station. It will also be very good for streaming video (iTV). This is just consolation for an iffy wireless link. These boards have many threads on this topic (eg macbook pro area). Do a search any you will find the others with the problem and maybe a solution.
Cheers

When iBook G4 wakes up, it drops Airport signal temporarily

My wife and I both have iBook G4s and we share the same Airport Extreme network. We have the most current software updates. When her iBook wakes up after being asleep, it temporarily drops the Airport signal. The signal reappears within a few seconds, but it takes 10-15 seconds to actually be able to access a website. Until then it comes up as "unavailable," which suggests the computer is logging into the network every time it wakes up, and that's the delay.
My laptop doesn't have this problem. It keeps the signal when it falls asleep. What might be causing this problem with hers?

Thanks for the link. When I started working through the process, I remembered that I had changed the "by default join" setting from "Automatic" to "Preferred Networks" a while back. I was having trouble with my laptop joining networks I didn't want it to. So I did some research and shifted to "Preferred Networks" and removed the networks I was unintentionally joining. My guess is it is this change, and not the 10.4.11 upgrade that caused my issue.
When I realized this, I didn't finish the steps on the link. I just changed back to "Automatic" and that seems to have taken care of it. If I find I'm having trouble with the Automatic setting, I'll try removing my encrypted network and then adding it back in, as suggested in the article.
Thanks so much.
kabing

Ibook drops airport signal, have to reboot iBook to get AE signal back,

my powerbook is working fine and the AE light is always green, but my iBook drops the AE signal whenever it goes to sleep. upon wakeup the airport is on but no signal and I have to reboot the computer to get the signal back strong even though it's fine on the powerbook. all updates, firmware etc. done. any ideas?

You might want to try resetting the PMU. It has some control over sleep and wake issues.
Read about the nightly maintenance routines that run if a Mac running OS X is not shut down or allowed to sleep in this Apple Knowledge Base article:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=107388
If you set the iBook (in Energy Saver Preferences) to just sleep the display (and leave it plugged in at night and open), these routines can run and she won't lose the AirPort signal, either.
I only close mine when I'm going to put it in its bag and take it somewhere (in that case, it would lose the AirPort signal anyway).
Maybe the PMU reset will do the trick for you and she won't have to use it the way I use mine (if she doesn't want to).

Poor wifi signal

My New Macbook air has very poor wifi signal, I have to sit within feet of my router to have a usable connection, I cannot even use it in the next room.
Does anybody else have this problem, and would purchasing a antenna booster or signal repeater do the job?

Here are some troubleshooting suggestions:
OS X Mountain Lion: Solve problems with connecting to the Internet

Weak Airport signal strength after MacBook upgrade to OS 10.5

Today, I finally upgraded my 13-inch 2.16 GHz Core 2 Duo MacBook (2 gig RAM, 160 gig HD) to OS 10.5 from OS 10.4.11. After using install and archive to install the new system, I noticed the Airport signal was down to three bars from the usual four. After completing all the system updates to bring it up to 10.5.8, its still receiving only three bars. We're using a 2Wire wireless DSL modem for Internet service. I was getting the full four bars before the system upgrade, and my wife's 14" G4 iBook is still getting four bars.
What's going on here? Is there an available fix for this? Or am I doomed to going back to OS 10.4.11?
Roger

rmatile wrote:
Today, I finally upgraded my 13-inch 2.16 GHz Core 2 Duo MacBook (2 gig RAM, 160 gig HD) to OS 10.5 from OS 10.4.11. After using install and archive to install the new system, I noticed the Airport signal was down to three bars from the usual four. After completing all the system updates to bring it up to 10.5.8, its still receiving only three bars. We're using a 2Wire wireless DSL modem for Internet service. I was getting the full four bars before the system upgrade, and my wife's 14" G4 iBook is still getting four bars.
Those bars are only an approximation of Wi-Fi signal strength. In Mac OS X 10.5 if you pull down the AirPort menu bar item while holding down an option key you'll see a value "RSSI", which is the actual signal strength. If you were using an AirPort base station, you could use AirPort Utility to see actual signal and noise levels.
In Mac OS X 10.4 I don't think that option key trick works, but you should be able to use the AirPort command-line utility, as describe in the electronic book "Take Control of Your 802.11n AirPort Network" (http://www.takecontrolbooks.com/airport-n):
- Launch Terminal
- Type this command:
cd /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/\
Apple80211.framework/Versions/Current/Resources/
- Type this command:
./airport -s
You'll see the "RSSI" value in one of the columns. If you compare the "RSSI" values for both OS versions, you may find the "RSSI" values more similar than the AirPort menu bar arcs suggest.
I have no financial connection to Take Control Books.

Airport signal becomes MUCH worse after 10.4.7 update?

Airport signal in 10.4.7 is 50% of what it was in 10.4.6. It also now cuts in and out. What changed?
And how can one go back to the good signals and stable reception under 10.4.6?
Mac OS X (10.4.7)

Yes, I'm noticing the same. It first hits 4 bars,
but then goes down to 2 after a minute or so. Then
it drops in and out consistently.
Am trying to find a solution before I kick something.
I switched my settings on internet to 802.11b, and now I have great connection on all my computers...b ... not g/b or g.It has been steady for a month now. Cheers

Airport signal good with no internet???

So my airport signal is full as a guest user at school. My firewall is off and system says I'm connected to the internet - but the page never loads... I never had a problem, then one day it just stopped working! I have to log on to Aruba while on campus, so I contacted them and they said my computer is the problem, not the network. No Norton installed here...what is the problem!! Please help me!

Nope it wasn't the kerberos stuff... my OS version is uptodate - 10.5.8... but this post is the answer for me - towards the bottom of the post- search for adhoc....
http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=8879400
the answer in that my configd was signed by "adhoc"... I replaced the configd from a time machine backup, like suggested, now it is signed proper and so far so good...
And yes this is less than half year old macbook... apples aren't supposed to have this trouble BUT I've learned not to panic and spend too much time... not reloading OS's etc... just do the 15 minute search and try things and overall not bad relative to my old windows experiences...

Airport signal blinking and others WIFI problems

I have a serious problem with my MacBook Pro. The WIFI signal is pretty weak compared to my old iBook or PowerMac G5, and sometimes, the Airport signal is lost and the Airport signal goes from 5 bars to 0, like a blinking.
I have this message in the Console " Feb 2 21:57:27 ordinateur-de- /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/Apple80211.framework/Resources/airport: Error: WirelessAssociate2() = 88001006 for network Airport. The operation timed out. "
I have no problem with the iBook or the PM G5 on the same WIFI network.
What can I do ?

if you are having a reception issue, you may be having some sort of environmental interference.
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=58543
also, you can organize your network ports to have airport as your primary. this may help
open system preferences > network
- change the Show: to network port configuration
- drag airport to the top of the list
- click apply now , in bottom right
- restart
hope this helps

Poor Airport Signal

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